The availability of U.S. software jobs declined sharply in 2001 in the wake of the dot-com bust and was still depressed in 2003 when experts warned global offshoring would suck millions of software development jobs out of the U.S. In response to these warnings, many of the best and brightest U.S. students decided to seek alternative career paths to software engineering. Since 2003, the number of students graduating from U.S. colleges and universities with computer science degrees has dropped dramatically.

Today, corporate demand for software talent is strong, but supply is still very weak. Despite the economic downturn of late, IT departments are still struggling with a significant skills gap, according to new research from accounting and consulting firm Deloitte. "Even in the midst of hiring freezes and layoffs, organizations continue to face talent shortages in critical areas such as IT," stated Jeff Schwartz, principal at Deloitte Consulting in a recent TechWorld article.

According the article, Deloitte carried out a global survey of 306 IT decision-makers and executive business managers and found that while IT managers have an increasingly clear understanding of what they must do to effectively support their organizations' business strategies, their existing IT resources appear to be falling short, leaving IT departments without the talent necessary to do the job.

The research showed that the majority of survey respondents (51%) strongly believe talent issues have limited their organization's productivity and efficiency. Half admitted the talent shortage is limiting their ability to innovate. Furthermore, the talent shortage has triggered a talent war with rising salaries, retention problems, and frequent job shifts. In the end, companies are faced with very high attrition rates.

Survey respondents also indicated that IT talent issues are having a material impact on other key dimensions of business success - growth (58%), speed to market (54%), quality (53%), and customer relationships (53%). Even as the pool of experienced and qualified software talent is shrinking, the study showed the vast majority of IT managers plan to expand their development efforts and staff size over the next 3 - 5 years. The question remains: "Where are they going to find the necessary talent?"

Regardless of the size of the available talent pool, companies must continue to grow, react to market demands, improve quality, and maintain customer relationships in order to survive. If they can't hire the necessary talent to do the work that needs to be done, they will have to rely on external resources. Many companies are looking to Software Infrastructure Partnering as the solution.

Software Infrastructure Partnering is a form of outsourcing whereby a company chooses an external enterprise software development partner to serve as a virtual extension of its internal software development staff. One benefit of outsourcing is that it gives a company the ability to leverage the skills it already has in-house along with the full-range of technical skills available in the marketplace.

Successful companies have learned that outsourcing software projects their staffs cannot do easily, efficiently, or affordably to an external partner enables them to be more dynamic and concentrate on their core business. However, when company reputations and future success are at stake, it is important to do plenty of research when selecting a partner - learn as much as you can about the company's reputation, financial stability, past project portfolio, and available technical talent. Learn how long the company has worked with each of its clients and what it uses as a project methodology.

Your Software Infrastructure Partner should be selected based on its ability to uphold the same standards of professionalism, quality, and integrity as your company and adhere to the same values your company holds dear. Additionally, your partner should be focused on building a long-term relationship with your organization instead of on short-term financial gain.

You may want to consider Baldwin Hackett and Meeks, Inc. (BHMI). BHMI has been in business since 1986 providing serious software development, consulting, and integration services to companies in a wide range of industries. Most of the clients who began doing business with BHMI decades ago are still BHMI clients today. That is, because at BHMI, client relationships are paramount.

A Software Infrastructure Partnership with BHMI gives businesses like yours access to BHMI's full-range of talent, resources, skill, knowledge, and experience. In essence, a Software Infrastructure Partnership is similar to placing part of your software development staff at a secondary off-site location. However, you benefit because your company does not incur the usual overhead costs associated with leasing facilities, paying salaries, providing benefits, and supplying office furniture and equipment. Basically, you get all of the benefits of a larger, highly diversified, and well-qualified development team without any of the hassle such as hiring, attrition, and overhead costs.

Still, some companies may prefer hiring to outsourcing, but it is important to remember that hiring full-time developers is only justified when enough projects exist to keep each developer busy for eight hours a day, five days a week on a permanent basis. Your business likely ebbs and flows, so tomorrow you may not need the software developers you hired a few months ago. Even if there is ample work for all staff developers, you may still lack the internal expertise to successfully complete all projects. In these cases, BHMI can serve as an extension of your internal development team and can complement your staff's existing skill set.

Listed below are a few other benefits of forming a Software Infrastructure Partnership with BHMI:

• You will not have to maintain expensive hardware or purchase software licenses in order to complete your software development projects.
• You will only have to pay for the hours BHMI developers actually spend on your projects.
• You will have ready access to a highly qualified and experienced team of software professionals without having to conduct costly and time-consuming interviews.

BHMI will work alongside your organization's business planning function to help determine the best possible solution and approach. Then, BHMI will assemble a team of talented individuals with the skills best matched to each of your projects. A BHMI project manager will work closely with your internal project managers and software developers to ensure project success. You can also rest easy knowing that as a partner, BHMI has a vested interest in the technical and commercial success of your business. BHMI wants you to be a customer for the long-term. So, if you win, BHMI wins.